Fishing-seine.



R. DINGWELL. FISHING sEiNE. APPLICATION FILED AUG.. 3l. 1914.

1 1 52,08 1 Patented Aug. 31, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

gjm/vento@ R. DINGWELL.

FISHING'SEINE. l APPLICATION FILED AuG.3I. I9I4.

1 ,l 52,081 l Patented Aug. 31, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES-'PATENT OFFICE. i

RUEL DINGWELL,

or oaivrnmnenronnivrnssacnusnrrs, v lssfrernonor ONE-THIRD@ JAMES A. cnoMwELL AND ONE-THIRD To F. weones, Born or Bos'r'oN, :tzrAssii-k GHUSETTS.

'FISHING-SEINE: l

Toy all 'whom t may concern.' Be it known that L RUEL DINGWELL, a

i citizen of ktheUnited States', residing at Cambridgeport, in thecounty of Middlesex,

State of Massachusetts, haveinvented certion of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art 4to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to, certain novel and useful improvements in fishing seines of the class known as purse seines.

posed of an upper, section of netting having a rope extending along the topA edge thereof and provided with corks, this rope being commonly known as-the. cork rope and a lower section of netting Awhich is adapted to be pursed by the pursing rope. This lower portion of the seine is also Aformed of a continuous section or piece of netting, and is usually known as the pursing apron. operating the ordinary form of net, the lower portion or pursingapron of the seine sinks down, and has to be hauled vertically through the water, thus involving the eX- penditure of considerable time and labor;

In carrying out my invention, instead of making the lower portion ory apron of the seine of a continuous piece of netting, I provide a series of bridfles or sections of ynetting, each including a rope bridle filled with land supporting the net webbing, these sections being adapted to be pursed bythe purs- "Sing rope to inclose the bottom of the seine.

By forming the lower portion of the seine of a seriesV of triangular` net sections,y I am enabled to save considerable material orsurplus twine, and at the same time the net may be manipulated or workedL far more easily andwith much less labor than the ordinary net. lThis will be apparent/when it is considered that I dispense with considerable netting or material, or twine in constructing.l

the seine and, therefore, have 'much less weight of material tofhand'le in thepursing operation, and furthermore,in this operation the triangular sections of netting,

instead of dropping lclear down in the watery and thus requiring to'be hauledvertically specincatiun'af Letters Patent.

the ends; together.

purpose to provide a'r purse Application iledAugust31,1914s` Seria1-No.859,471. f. i

sary for thev pursmgoperation.

It .is also mypurposeto'pro-Videla purse. seme havinga seriesfof clamps which are are releasedfrom theirvclamps and mayy be drawnk to inclose theopening lbetween the The ordinary form of purse seine is comends of the net and the bottom of the latter. v Y

.Another Objectis .thel provision of apursing weightwhich'is `adapted yto pullout the two'bridles at ythe ends 4of the net and close the openingbetween such VIt is alsowmy seineV which will embody the desired features ofv simplicity, eiflciencyand reliability and which maybe manufactured and marketed at a relatively low cost.

With the above recited objects Vand others of a simi-lar nature in. View, my invention consistsf'inv the construction, combination and arrangement` of partsset forth in and falling within the scope ofthe appended claims.y

theaccompanying.drawings: Figure ll is a'viewlin side elevation of a seine embodying my invention, showing the seine partly pursed'. Fig.p2 is-a view also in elevation of a portion of `theseine and Vshowing the triangular bridle'sv or sections held f by the clamps. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of ythe net showing the same partially pursed. Fig. 4

is an enlarged detail view in side elevation` of one of the clamps. Fig'. 5 is a view in endelevationof one of the clamps.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the numeral l designates the upperzportion ofthe seine which, as usual, is formed of a continuous piece of netting. The top yedge fof this net section is ofthe usual cork rope-j 2,k having the corks .8 thereon. To the bottom edge of they end section lfis -.fastened lthe usual `footrope 4..

Connected with this yfoot rope 4 in any suitc atented Aug. v31, 1ers.'`

ends by bringing.

throughthesame, are pulled by theV pursing i line horizontally through the water, thereby decreasingthe strain, labor and time neces- 55 lower ends or apices 8 of these triangular sections are,.of course, spaced apart. l The result is that when considered in connection with the vordinary form ofpursing apron, I attain a great saving of net material, as I use in the .construction of my bridle about one-half the material usually employed for this purpose. Suspended from the apex 8 of each twine bridle 5 is a pursing ring 9, while 10 is the pursing line'or rope threaded through these rings, rope being adapted to be drawn upward or out through the pair of rings 10-10 at the ends of that pair Vof bridleswhich lie adjacent the vertical meeting edges 12 of the net.

Secured to the foot rope are the clamps c, these clamps one at approximately the center of each triangular rbridle orv section a. These clamps are designed to grip and hold the bridles a in folded position previous to the pursing operation. In Figs. 4C and 5 I have shown the construction of one of these clamps in detail. .These clamps are preferably made of metal, such as bronze wire, steel spring.r

wire, or the like, and each clamp embodies a pair of outwardly bowed or curved arms 13-13 merging at their upper ends into the approximately U-shaped. connecting bight lt, which is adapted to lit over the foot rope. Therlower ends of the arms 13-18 are widened to form the ring-like terminals 15 which abut against each other, these terminals being normally held in abutting or closed position by the resilient or spring action of the bowed arms 13. In the construction of the clamp it will be noted vthat when the adjacent bridle is rolled or folded it may be clamped or gripped be-' tween the arms y21.3-13 and ywill be prevented from falling out ofthe clampby the gripping action of these arms, as well as by the fact that the widened terminals 15-15 of the arms contact.

The letter fw indicates a pursing weight having a loop or eye 16 to which areconnected the short sections of line 17-17, these lines being'alsoattached to the blocks formed of the straps 18-18V carrying the rollers IQ- 19. The numeral QOindicates the pursing weight line which is connected at Vone end to the weight and is adapted the tail ends 11 of the being preferably arranged to be handled from the boat. This pursing weight is adapted to act in the usual manner, lthat is to insure tension or weight upon seine or pursed as shown in Fig. 8.

` From the above description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction and operation of my improved pursing seine will be readily apparent. The triangular twine bridles a are rolled up or folded and held by the clamps c as shown in Fig. 2 while the net is set. In

setting the net the usual practice` is followed and when the boat comes around and picks up the end of the net which was dropped at the start ofthe setting operation, the taut ends of the' purse line are passed through the blocks connected with the weight and the blocks are dropped overboard so lthe weight will pull the two end bridles straight downward and toward each other to close the ends of the net and at the same time partially purse the other bridles. The tail ends of the lines are then pulled in the usual manner to purse the net and this results in pulling the twine bridles entirely out of or from the clamps, and the continued pull orvtension on the pursing line draws these bridles horizontally through the water and inward toward the center of the net to close the bottom of the latter. By reference to Fig. 8, it will be seen that the net is shown as partially pursed and that the continued application of the pull to the tail ends of the pursing line would result in the net being completely closed.

It will-be noted that AI have provided a pursing seine which may be quickly and readily operated to close the bottom ofthe net beneath the fish, and furthermore, it will be seen that, dispensing as I do with considerable material in the manufacture of the net, Iattain a considerable saving of expense in the cost of manufacture, in addierated with less effort than the ordinary type of pursing seine.

While I have herein shown and described one particular embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to all the precise details of con-. struction herein set forth by way of illustration, as modification and variation may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a pursing seine, a main net section, a series of net like bridles attached to the lower end of the main section, and constituting net sections adapted to be drawn together to form the bottom of the net, and

a pursing rope loosely connected with the lower ends of the bridles for drawing the bridles together.

2. In a pursing seine, a main net section, a series of net-like bridles carried by the main section, and constituting net sections adapted to be drawn together to form the bottom of the net, a pursing line and a pursing weight adapted to draw the ends of the net and the bridles at such ends to close the space between such net ends, said weight partially pursing the remaining bridles.

3. In a pursing seine, a main net section,

a series of net-like bridles attached to the lower end of the main section, and constituting net sections adapted to be drawn together to form the bottom of the net, pursing rope guides attached to the bridles and a pursing rope reeved through the guides.

4. In a pursing seine, a main net section having a foot rope at its lower end, a series of net like bridles attached to the foot rope and spaced apart at their lower ends, and constituting net sections adapted to be drawn together to form the bottom of the net, a pursing rope guide at the lower end of each bridle, and a pursing rope reeved through the guides.

5. In a pursing seine, a main net section, a series of clamps connected with the 'lower portion of the main net section, a series of net like bridles connected with the lower portion of the main section, and adapted to be folded and clamped by the clamps, a pursing rope guide carried by each bridle, and a pursing rope reeved through the guides and adapted to be drawn taut during the pursing operation to draw the bridles from their clamps and close the bottom of the seine with said bridles.

6. In a pursing seine, a main net section, having a foot rope at its lower end, a series of clamps carried by the foot rope, a series of substantially triangular bridles attached to the foot rope, each bridle being located adjacent one of the clamps, each section comprising a twine bridle and a net webbing, each bridle being adapted to be folded or held by the adjusting clamp prior to the pursing operation, a pursing rope guide carried by each bridle, and a pursing rope reeved through the guides and adapted when drawn taut to pull the bridles from the clamps and draw the same to close the bottom of the seine.

7. In a pursing seine, a main net section including a cork rope at the top edge thereof and a foot rope at the lower edge thereof, a series of substantially triangular net-like bridles attached to the foot rope, a pursing ring attached to the apex of each bridle, spring clips attached to the foot rope for holding the bridle in folded position, a pursing line loosely connected with the bridles and adapted when drawn taut to pull said bridles from their clamps and draw the same inward to close the bottom of the seine, and a pursing weight for the pursing line.

In testimony whereof, I aiiix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

RUEL DINGWELL.

AWitnesses:

CHAs. H. PYNE, ARTHUR B. LANE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

